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Anti-GMO campaign starts to bear fruit

GREEN campaigners are calling for supermarkets across the Union toremove genetically-modified foods from their shelves.

European Voice

3/4/98, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 3:02 AM CET

The call comes after the UK-based Soil Association last week challenged allfood retailers in the British Isles to ban foods containinggenetically-modified organisms (GMOs).

The organisation argues that this approach could be applied equallyeffectively across the EU as a whole. “What we are proposing is amarket-based approach to combating GMOs. We believe informed consumersdon’t want genetically-modified products and the best way to convincefarmers not to grow GMO crops is to ensure supermarkets do not stock them.

This is certainly an approach which could work in all European countries,”said Soil Association director Patrick Holden.

The organisation’s campaign already appears to be bearing fruit. UK frozenfood retailer Iceland says it is currently looking into ways of ensuringthat its ‘own label’ products contain no gene-altered ingredients.

“We intend to ensure that these products are GMO-free or at the leastclearly labelled,” said an Iceland spokeswoman, adding: “We have receivedlots and lots of letters from customers saying they are very concernedabout this issue.”

The Soil Association’s stance has been welcomed by other environmentalgroups, notably Greenpeace International, which is already running acoordinated anti-GMO campaign across the Union. “A lot of consumers in theEU do not want to put up with GMOs. If there are groups prepared to takethis sort of action, then we support this. We think it is a good approach,”said a spokesman.

Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard recently put forward plans toupdate the EU law – the controversial directive 90/220 – which sets out theprocedure to be followed before new GMO crops and seeds can be approved forcommercial use. The original directive has been widely criticised forgiving too much power to secretive EU committees.

Union environment ministers will have a first chance to examine the plannednew rules when they meet in Brussels later this month.